Wholehearted Christians

By H. Lynn Gardner

I had a double-lung transplant in 2004, but that was not my first transplant. When I became a Christian I was given a new heart, a new spirit. We become new persons when we come into Christ. After the surgeons took out my old, scarred lungs, I was given “young healthy lungs.” I was given new life.

When we become Christians we die to our old self””the spirit that ran our lives as we selfishly pleased. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). As new persons, our supreme aim in life is not to please ourselves, but to please our heavenly Father. Instead of self-interest, Jesus is king.

Pleasing Christ affects every area of our lives. God does not want to be boxed into one little corner of our lives labeled religious. He wants to be involved in everything.

Some who claim to be Christians are not Christlike at home, at work, at school, or in their entertainment. When a deacon was asked if he were a Christian, he responded, “In spots.” We must ask ourselves: Am I a halfhearted Christian or a wholehearted Christian? Do I seek to please Christ only in “spots” and the rest of the time do as I please? Or do I seek to please him in every aspect of my life?

Do we live part of our lives ruled by the old selfish person? It would be foolish of me to decide I wanted my old dead lungs back. How unwise of us when we have been given a new heart and spirit in Christ to want to go back and live with the old heart!

C. S. Lewis said when he had a toothache as a child he avoided telling his mother until the pain was unbearable. She would give him what he wanted””aspirin to relieve the pain. However she followed up with more than he wanted””a trip to the dentist. The dentist would get to the root of the problem causing the pain.

Lewis compared God to the dentist. Give him an inch and he takes a mile. Many go to the Lord to be helped with a particular sin, like an uncontrollable temper. In Mere Christianity, Lewis said God would not stop with curing that one problem. If you call God in, Lewis said, he will treat all of you.¹

God is not interested in merely improving us, but rather transforming us. Jesus warned us to “count the cost.” If we put ourselves in God”s hands, he will do an extreme makeover. We have free will and can push him away. But if we sincerely follow Christ, he will mature us in Christ.

We are the only ones in the universe with power to keep God from making us what he wants us to be. Many times when we overcome a sin or two we think we are good enough. We would be glad for Christ to leave us alone.

Lewis admitted he sought little more than to be ordinary. But the question, he said, is not what we intend but what God had in mind when he created us.²

God”s plan is to fully transform you into a new person. We don”t slide into a godly character and conduct. A genuine Christian is a transformed, wholehearted follower of Christ.

EVERYTHING FOR GOD

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). The New Testament is not a detailed rule book for every decision in life. F. F. Bruce pointed out, “What the NT does provide is those basic principles of Christian living which may be applied to all the situations of life as they arise.”³

When we are facing a moral decision with no direct word from God, we can act in a manner that pleases Christ. In the light of the principles in God”s Word, can we do this action in the name of Christ? “In the name of Jesus” means all he is, all he taught, in acknowledgement and submission to his role as Lord. In everything we do we should seek to do it in harmony with Jesus” life and the values and principles he taught. A wholehearted Christian wants God”s control in the whole of life, not just in some narrow “religious” corner.

Having the mind and heart of Christ, we need to act as he would have us act. Seth Wilson wrote, “Do all as His agents, taught by His word, impelled by love and devotion to Him, subject to His approval, His favor, and His help.”⁴ When we surrender completely and earnestly to the rule of Christ in our lives, we will observe what he commands in our words, thoughts, and actions.

Immorality, greed, hate, and ungodly speech come from inner wickedness. A farmer had a saying, “What comes up in the bucket is usually what”s down in the well.” David Garland reminded us, “The only solution is to change what is down in the well of our very souls. Only by giving ourselves completely to Christ and allowing his transforming power to fumigate and permeate our thoughts and actions will we solve the sin problem in our lives. Because we have been raised with Christ and renewed by Christ, living a life pleasing to him is the fruit of our new nature.”⁵

Our faith needs to be integrated into our daily life. Garland puts it this way:

Mature Christians filter all aspects of life””what they see, hear, and think; their family, vocation, relationships, finances, politics, and ethical decisions””through their faith in Christ. They do not confine their religious faith to some isolated niche in their lives and take it out now and then, but they allow their faith in Christ to shape all of reality and inform all that they do.⁶

God created us to work creatively and constructively. Nancy Pearcey said, “The ideal of human existence is not eternal leisure or an endless vacation””or even a monastic retreat into prayer and meditation””but creative effort expended for the glory of God and the benefit of others.”⁷

We overcome a distorted view of life by replacing it with God”s perspective on life. Pearcey continued,

Christians need to move beyond criticizing culture to creating culture. . . . Whether we work with our brains or with our hands, whether we are analytical or artistic, whether we work with people or with things, in every calling we are culture-creators, offering up our work as service to God.⁸

If Christianity is really true, then it will provide us with the truth and direction we need for every area of our lives.

GLORIFYING GOD

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23, 24). Our Christian faith and commitment should guide us in the kind of worker we are. We should practice the principles of honesty, humility, thoughtfulness of others, and diligence. Ultimately we work for God, not for some earthly employer (Ephesians 6:5-8).

F. F. Bruce applies Paul”s teaching to today”s workplace:

But the Christian slave””or the Christian employee today””has the highest of all motives for faithful and conscientious performance of duty; he is above all things else a servant of Christ, and he will work first and foremost so as to please Him. Not fear of an earthly master, but reverence for “˜the Lord Christ,” should be the primary motive. This would encourage Christian servants to work eagerly and zestfully even for a master who was harsh, unconscionable and ungrateful; for they would not expect their thanks from him, but from Christ.⁹

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Some people think that God is interested only in “spiritual” things, not the “secular” pursuits of everyday life. Everything we say and do has spiritual significance. We can work and play to the glory of God. We can talk on the phone or in a conversation in a way that glorifies God. We can do everything in our daily life in such a way that God is honored and glorified.

Charles Hodge gives wise advice:

Let self be forgotten. Let your eye be fixed on God. Let the promotion of his glory be your object in all you do. Strive in every thing to act in such a way that men may praise that God whom you profess to serve. . . . It is by thus having the desire to promote the glory of God as the governing motive of our lives, that order and harmony are introduced into all our actions.¹⁰

The hymn writer expresses the commitment of a wholehearted Christian:

All for Jesus, all for Jesus!

All my being”s ransomed powers,

All my thoughts and words and doings,

All my days and all my hours.

Let my hands perform His bidding,

Let my feet run in His ways;

Let my eyes see Jesus only,

Let my lips speak forth His praise.¹¹

________

¹C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, revised edition (Macmillan, 1952), 171.

²Ibid., 173.

³F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Colossians (Eerdmans, 1957), 285.

⁴Seth Wilson, Learning from Jesus (Joplin: College Press, 1977), 430.

⁵David E. Garland, The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians/Philemon (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 221, 222.

⁶Ibid., 237.

⁷Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth (Wheaton: Crossway, 2004), 48.

⁸Ibid., 58.

⁹Bruce, The Epistle to the Colossians, 294.

¹⁰Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Eerdmans, 1956 reprint), 202.

¹¹Mary James, “All for Jesus.” Public domain.

H. Lynn Gardner is retired after serving many years on the faculty and as academic dean of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.